When a candidate outlasts more than a year of primaries and the general election, it's a phenomenon that he's still strong enough to govern at all. The Ides of March poses the predicament of whether it's feasible for any candidate to win and still keep integrity to his initial ideals. We follow Stephen Meyers, press secretary for Gov. Mike Morris, an idealistic liberal with that rare iron backbone that makes him a hopeful fantasy of modern democracy. Philip Seymour Hoffman is Paul, his experienced campaign manager. Challenging Morris is Michael Mantell's Sen. Pullman, managed by Paul Giamatti's Duffy. All of these men, excluding young Stephen, are cynical and occasionally mean, but all on the grounds of something they have faith in. Most of Meyers' faith is in himself.
The big picture is highlighted in diminutive vignettes: campaign stops, glad-handing, speech writing, sleep loss and acute fatigue that compels the characters virtually to the verge of collapse. Irresponsible sex under these conditions is surely frequent, and Stephen makes romantic gestures toward Evan Rachel Wood's dubiously young intern Molly. Her naivete may be useful to him. He also has an evasive rapport with ruthless correspondent Marisa Tomei, as they labor one another for information. Clooney as director eschews action for stratagem. Here he holds certain of Stephen's cards very wisely close to the vest, as the lad uncovers a ruthlessness that startles even the case-hardened experts above him. The movie's ending close-up is protracted to unnerving effect.
The screenplay is resourceful in how it interlocks personal and political determination, particularly when Duffy puts out to goad Stephen into defecting. His intentions are fishy, and surely Stephen is eager beaver for prospects to his gain. The movie doesn't take direct aim or even much involve Republicans. It transpires wholly within a Democratic primary campaign, and while sympathies evolve and alliances shift, they're all Democrats. There isn't the sense in The Ides of March, as there was with Primary Colors or Nixon, that we're gleaning the inside scoop on real-life politicians. It's more about the ironic catch-22 of prevailing media politics.
The movie's prize asset is the class and skill of the acting, with Gosling yet again playing a character with an adamant charisma done with a less-is-more approach. He has a concentration that sticks to others and gets to the bottom of every moment's intention. That deep sincerity succeeds on many levels. Since the script is rooted in a play, it features some floodlight monologues that Hoffman and Giamatti make not only credible but stunning under the closer real-world study of the camera. Hoffman has some powerful scenes with Gosling, in which he learns the real definition of his scenario. Jeffrey Wright has a little but central role as Sen. Thompson, whose powerful endorsement can't be bought but might be open for lease.
Clooney as director, "Part Frank Capra, part Michael Mann" as admirably well-described by Salon.com, is a discreet craftsman with mature cinematic instincts and New Hollywood prudence of allowing his actors to move the narrative. The Ides of March has been received reverentially, but not with as much enthusiasm as it deserves, which may suggest the muted disposition of its storytelling. Again, Clooney casts himself as a supporting character, that unruffled and enigmatic Democratic presidential contender who exhibits himself as a progressive champion and still preserves a concise, pointed detachment from even his closest consultants. Jennifer Ehle, best known as Elizabeth Bennett, has a tidy role as his wife. Morris is our pipe-dream hopeful, a governor who has squared the budget and promotes an impressive program of national reform, equalized with universal healthcare and free of lobbying interests. He's also an agnostic who declines to confer any religious beliefs, likely the character's least realistic ingredient.
Most realistic is that Morris might not quite be all he seems. What candidate ever is? Ultimately, he's simply the handbag for Meyers and his ethical predicament. Indeed, the film is a casual wedding of actor and director, with Clooney freeing the crux of the movie to give Gosling's effortless solemnity and vigilance the hub. Even as he and Molly are in the seeming fits of affection, Stephen can't keep his attention off the breaking newscasts.
In this world of lingo-loaded, confrontational dialogue and the overcast, springtime Cincinnati streets I've grown up loving, Morris is braced in a level match with Pullman, about whom we never gather anything except that the GOP thinks he's more vulnerable than Morris. The Ides of March may not be quite as idiosyncratic as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind or Good Night and Good Luck, but it's idiosyncratic in its quality in today's machine, and welcome installment in the exciting mid-career reinvention of Hollywood's arguably shrewdest star. Releasing nationwide right when the GOP is at the heart of its primary stink bomb, he comes to my town, a home of his as well, and fashions an understated portrayal of a more everyday sort of political takeover, but is plainly intended to illustrate a society descending on the same trajectory.
The big picture is highlighted in diminutive vignettes: campaign stops, glad-handing, speech writing, sleep loss and acute fatigue that compels the characters virtually to the verge of collapse. Irresponsible sex under these conditions is surely frequent, and Stephen makes romantic gestures toward Evan Rachel Wood's dubiously young intern Molly. Her naivete may be useful to him. He also has an evasive rapport with ruthless correspondent Marisa Tomei, as they labor one another for information. Clooney as director eschews action for stratagem. Here he holds certain of Stephen's cards very wisely close to the vest, as the lad uncovers a ruthlessness that startles even the case-hardened experts above him. The movie's ending close-up is protracted to unnerving effect.
The screenplay is resourceful in how it interlocks personal and political determination, particularly when Duffy puts out to goad Stephen into defecting. His intentions are fishy, and surely Stephen is eager beaver for prospects to his gain. The movie doesn't take direct aim or even much involve Republicans. It transpires wholly within a Democratic primary campaign, and while sympathies evolve and alliances shift, they're all Democrats. There isn't the sense in The Ides of March, as there was with Primary Colors or Nixon, that we're gleaning the inside scoop on real-life politicians. It's more about the ironic catch-22 of prevailing media politics.
The movie's prize asset is the class and skill of the acting, with Gosling yet again playing a character with an adamant charisma done with a less-is-more approach. He has a concentration that sticks to others and gets to the bottom of every moment's intention. That deep sincerity succeeds on many levels. Since the script is rooted in a play, it features some floodlight monologues that Hoffman and Giamatti make not only credible but stunning under the closer real-world study of the camera. Hoffman has some powerful scenes with Gosling, in which he learns the real definition of his scenario. Jeffrey Wright has a little but central role as Sen. Thompson, whose powerful endorsement can't be bought but might be open for lease.
Clooney as director, "Part Frank Capra, part Michael Mann" as admirably well-described by Salon.com, is a discreet craftsman with mature cinematic instincts and New Hollywood prudence of allowing his actors to move the narrative. The Ides of March has been received reverentially, but not with as much enthusiasm as it deserves, which may suggest the muted disposition of its storytelling. Again, Clooney casts himself as a supporting character, that unruffled and enigmatic Democratic presidential contender who exhibits himself as a progressive champion and still preserves a concise, pointed detachment from even his closest consultants. Jennifer Ehle, best known as Elizabeth Bennett, has a tidy role as his wife. Morris is our pipe-dream hopeful, a governor who has squared the budget and promotes an impressive program of national reform, equalized with universal healthcare and free of lobbying interests. He's also an agnostic who declines to confer any religious beliefs, likely the character's least realistic ingredient.
Most realistic is that Morris might not quite be all he seems. What candidate ever is? Ultimately, he's simply the handbag for Meyers and his ethical predicament. Indeed, the film is a casual wedding of actor and director, with Clooney freeing the crux of the movie to give Gosling's effortless solemnity and vigilance the hub. Even as he and Molly are in the seeming fits of affection, Stephen can't keep his attention off the breaking newscasts.
In this world of lingo-loaded, confrontational dialogue and the overcast, springtime Cincinnati streets I've grown up loving, Morris is braced in a level match with Pullman, about whom we never gather anything except that the GOP thinks he's more vulnerable than Morris. The Ides of March may not be quite as idiosyncratic as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind or Good Night and Good Luck, but it's idiosyncratic in its quality in today's machine, and welcome installment in the exciting mid-career reinvention of Hollywood's arguably shrewdest star. Releasing nationwide right when the GOP is at the heart of its primary stink bomb, he comes to my town, a home of his as well, and fashions an understated portrayal of a more everyday sort of political takeover, but is plainly intended to illustrate a society descending on the same trajectory.